Asus Vs. Gigabyte SLi Boards

[Chocolate Pi]

(*Waits for someone to say LAN Party...*)

I have not seen these boards anywhere in a head-to-head comparison of features... Both appear so cutting edge, and the reviews for both are so glowing that it's hard to find any con that one would have to the other. Originally the Gigabyte looked slightly better, but I might go ahead and get the Asus just because it's available and under $200.

Are that any differences between these two boards that owners or observant technical folks would like to share with ignorant people like me?

 

[Bucknasty]

Originally posted by: Chocolate Pi
(*Waits for someone to say LAN Party...*)

I have not seen these boards anywhere in a head-to-head comparison of features... Both appear so cutting edge, and the reviews for both are so glowing that it's hard to find any con that one would have to the other. Originally the Gigabyte looked slightly better, but I might go ahead and get the Asus just because it's available and under $200.

Are that any differences between these two boards that owners or observant technical folks would like to share with ignorant people like me?

Seems to me there are issues with the ASUS SLI board. Just look at all the threads about issues with it. I don't see an equal amount of threads with issues about the gigabyte.

just my 2 cents

 

[Relion]

There will always be issues with all PC parts...just unlucky ppl...I consider myself in the lucky side...Id reccomend you the Asus mobo...

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Thats an easy one. ASUS

 

[Chocolate Pi]

Well the reason there might be more problems with the Asus one might have to do with it being widely available... I have seen about two of the five people in the world with the Gigabyte boad complaining about it...

So, what exactly makes you guys say the Asus is better? I'd feel much better if there was some concrete feature/option/setting I could understand that sets the two mobos apart.

 

[tretneo]

One big feature if you are going to go with an SLI setup is the extra slot between the two PCI Express slots. Most of the other SLI boards that will be coming to market barely have enough space for two cards and the top card is not going to get any kind of good airflow. The asus board has a little more space between the two so I think that is a big plus.

tret

 

[mystere]

Both boards will perform roughly the same.

One of the nice things about nForce boards is that because everything is single chip, performance tends to be identical across all manufacturers.

What this means is that it boils down to price and features. Buy the board that has the features you want. I bought the Gigabyte I like gigabytes dual bios feature versus Asus recovery CD option.

Also, the Gigabyte has spdif in and out, the Asus only has out, and has Firewire 800 versus the Asus Firewire 400 (1394b vs 1394a)

Whatever is most important to you. I just like Gigabyte better.

 

[Mem]

Both boards will perform roughly the same.

That`s about right,don`t buy into "Asus is superior" crap ,look at the features and price between the two and decide for yourself,by all means do read some reviews,btw nothing wrong with the DFI apart from MIA .

 

[Chocolate Pi]

Well, I've read every review I can get my hands on, but I'm having problems comparing the features; all the reviews are so positive and optimistic it makes it hard to find faults with one compared to the other.

Can we expect the Gigabyte to be more in price, coming with a 802.11g card and all?

Also, the Gigabyte has that extra power daughterboard everyone mentions but I have been unable to find what it means to me. "Phase 6" something, huh?

And most the Asus "EZ special features" seem kind of... not EZ and not special...

Yet nothing changes that the Asus board is here now, and will probably buy it unless there is a reason to wait. Besides overclocking options, do we know of anything special DIF is bringing to the table?

 

[dnavarro]

I strongly WARN you not to get the ASUS is you are a real overclocker. The Asus will not run at high fronts side bus/HTT speeds at 1T memory command rate (read over 240-250). It has low voltages available (1.65 V MAX for CPU!) and IMHO the only thing it has going for it is the slightly wider spacing for graphics cards.

I have had two of the ASUS's and currently have the gigabyte. The gigabyte (with the exact same CPU and memory) overclocked to 280+ front side bus 1:1 with the HTT bus. It has almost 1.8V for CPU oveclocking and has a TON of memory related tweaking options in the bios. For overclocking it wipes the Asus on the floor. Read the anandtech review. My results were almost 100% similar. And that is the reason I got it.

Another thing I loved about the Gigabyte was the value. It comes with WiFi, Firewire 2.0, DPS (it gives you a more stable 6 phase power supply on the motherboard which helps in overclocking/SLI scenarios), and tons of other pack in things. The Asus was quite bland with what it came with. Now Eastluna has the Gigabyte for like 20 bucks more than the Asus, and IMHO it is more than worth it.


BTW, if you don't overclock, than either board will do (or you don't want higher than a 240 FSB but to me thats not even a real overclock).

D

P.S. and Yes the DFI will be the best for overclocking

 

[smc13]

How does the Gigabyte tell the difference between single video card and two video cards using sli? I don't like the asus EZ card selector at all.

Steve Cohen

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: Bucknasty

Originally posted by: Chocolate Pi
(*Waits for someone to say LAN Party...*)

I have not seen these boards anywhere in a head-to-head comparison of features... Both appear so cutting edge, and the reviews for both are so glowing that it's hard to find any con that one would have to the other. Originally the Gigabyte looked slightly better, but I might go ahead and get the Asus just because it's available and under $200.

Are that any differences between these two boards that owners or observant technical folks would like to share with ignorant people like me?

Seems to me there are issues with the ASUS SLI board. Just look at all the threads about issues with it. I don't see an equal amount of threads with issues about the gigabyte.

just my 2 cents

That's because no one can purchase the stupid Gigabyte.

I love my A8N-SLI. It comes highly recommended.



I'm sure the Gigabyte will be an excellent board, but be ready to pay for it. Their Nforce 3 boards are still the most expensive out there.

 

[Chocolate Pi]

Hmmm... I still can't find the gigabyte board anywhere (even at the site you suggested). Can we expect it to be widely cirrculated soon?

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: Chocolate Pi
Hmmm... I still can't find the gigabyte board anywhere (even at the site you suggested). Can we expect it to be widely cirrculated soon?

You can expect all day long. Has no bearing on what actually happens.

 

[barkeley]

Originally posted by: Chocolate Pi
Hmmm... I still can't find the gigabyte board anywhere (even at the site you suggested). Can we expect it to be widely cirrculated soon?

It's in shops in Europe here and there for few days now, so I guess it's a matter of less than a week before you find it anywhere.

I'm used to the biased vision forums give when those complaining or having problems post first. However for the ASUS it goes way beyond the borderline of what can be called a good product. For a great part may be because a lot of adjustment is still needed in the BIOS (the mess through the flood of versions with so many people stepping back is impressive). But I fear for a part because some hardware poor choice (like the visible and audible miserable chipset fan).
Not much feed back yet from the Gigabyte SLI, but for the cheaper NF4 4x version already on the market for a while and based on the same design and most same components, one can see through feed back from users you don't get this proportion of very serious issues.
Asus can make great motherboards. Like anyone when you don't rush to sell your product almost a month before competitors.

 

[Robor]

I haven't seen/tried the other boards but I will say the chipset fan on the Asus is QUITE (*not quiet*) annoying. It's got a tiny high-rpm fan that's the loudest thing in my case. I'd love to get a passive cooler or at least one with a larger fan that spins slower and makes less noise. It's an extremely poor design IMO.

 

[imported_PanicAttack]

Someone mentioned the 6 phase system on the Gigabyte. Here's the quote from the website:

"Dual Power System
Along with enhanced performance is additional system stability with the GIGABYTE Dual Power System (D.P.S.). D.P.S. is a revolutionary six-phase power circuit designed to withstand varying electrical current levels, ensuring future processor upgrades. This design ensures a more secure and stable platform than ever before."

Anyone know how important this really is? Sounds like a good way to compensate for a bad or cheap PSU.
The MSI K8N also seems to have this. Maybe it's important to SLI stability.

 

[dnavarro]

To tell you the truth DPS may help on flaky power supplies. I have a PCP&C 510 SLI so I notice no difference in stability with DPS in or out. But it seems like a really cool feature.

As far as availability I was told Eastluna should hev them by next week. MWAVE had them in two weeks agao (when I got mine) and they should be getting another shipment next week also. I would expect good circulation of the boards really soon.

And I stand by my reviw of both the ASUS and Gigabyte. The Gigabyte is an overclockers dream and comes with a great package. Bios is excellent and I don't see any boards but maybe the DFI being better.

D

 

[Chocolate Pi]

I just ordered the Asus, as that is what Monarch had. I wonder when they will get in the Gigabyte...

Funny: right after I added the asus + 3000+ combo to my cart, the price of the asus went up $20! I even tried adding it again; same product, $20 more! I think I got a bit of a deal. Of course, Half-Life 2 and Far Cry don't hurt either.

 

[wishbringer15]

I have been following these new PCI-Express NForce4 mobo's for a while. I plan on upgrading soon but am not totally sure if this is the way to go. I have an ATI AIW 9800Pro AGP and the only PCI-E AIW is the X600Pro which is certainly not good for games but nice otherwise. No word on when a PCI-E AIW X800 or X850 will be released and able to get. Without this I would have to get a hold over card maybe a 6600GT or X700XT and a TVturner because ATI isn't on the ball.

The other delemia is which NForce4 board to buy? LOL
The DFI Ultra-D only has 4 SATA but if you know what you are doing you can turn that into a true SLI board. If this is a lot cheaper than the other SLI boards it might be worth it just to know you have the option.

Anyway that isn't my issue with these boards my issue is that I need at least three PCI slots and most of those boards have only two.

I favor Gigabyte has I have had good luck with all Gigabyte boards in the past and can't say the same for all the ASUS boards I have had. Plus overall the Gigabyte board is the most loaded with 1394B and other Dual features others don't match. If I go simply Nforce4 Ultra Gigabyte and MSI have well equipted boards though again Gigabyte has the best equipted board of anyone and unfortunately I'm sure they have the highest price of anyone. If I go SLI it appears their is little choice but to go ASUS.

I Need the PCI slots because I have an Audigy 2 card, SCSI card, and WIFI G card. I would still have to dump one of those cards if I needed a TVtuner though those can be had in USB form as well as the WIFI.

Any suggestions would be nice! Simply confused on whether or not to go next gen now or wait.

Thanks!

 

[Samus]

Originally posted by: Relion
There will always be issues with all PC parts...just unlucky ppl...I consider myself in the lucky side...Id reccomend you the Asus mobo...

Agreed, I got the Asus and couldn't be happier, especially since my first was a Chaintech and it sucked.

 

[Samus]

Originally posted by: Chocolate Pi
Hmmm... I still can't find the gigabyte board anywhere (even at the site you suggested). Can we expect it to be widely cirrculated soon?

Here's a solutions. Stop looking for the Gigabyte and buy the Asus

 

[barkeley]

Originally posted by: wishbringer15
I Need the PCI slots because I have an Audigy 2 card, SCSI card, and WIFI G card. I would still have to dump one of those cards if I needed a TVtuner though those can be had in USB form as well as the WIFI.

Any suggestions would be nice! Simply confused on whether or not to go next gen now or wait.

Thanks!

In this case, apart from the bugged and noisy ASUS SLI, the MSI Ultra should give you the slots you need. I imagine you'll find soon TVtuner cards for PCIE_1x

 

[mystere]

I got my Gigabyte SLI about 2 weeks ago from mwave. The boards are out there, i'd expect new stock soon. So far, other than some confusing BIOS settings, the Gigabyte has been a great board.

 

[reidman]

You dont want an Asus A8n-SLI I have sent back the second one now. Should be a great board If you can keep it working. The first lost the PCI buss 1394 and Marvel Lan, sent it back the second worked good for about 2 hours then died. No reboot at all.
Asus hasn't returned calls or emails since 1/29/2005 about board. Now the company I bought from Comp-U-Plus has decieded not to acept any more returns they say call Asus. So I am out $208.00 plus the cost of 2 returns. Time to call the crdit card company. I have been searching the Internet and have found hundreds of complaints on board, many the same as mine, Also a lot of people are one their second board. You should not have to go through this much torment to get a working motherboard cutting edge or not. I will never buy another Asus product.